Elephant and buffalo herds have been severely depleted, while lion, cheetah and wild dog have all been eradicated. Under the direction of enterprising African Parks Network the area is definitely on the up, but with a resident community of 90,000 fishermen living within the swamp, Bangweulu still needs to overcome some serious challenges before it's truly worthy of being spoken about in the same breath as the Okavango Delta.
It is, however, an excellent destination for avid birders and Africa aficionados looking for an off-the-beaten-track safari experience. While watching lechwe dance across the mirror-calm shallow water is mesmerising, the only way to really appreciate the scale of the swamp and size of the herds was by taking a scenic flight over the wetland and its surrounding grasslands. The bird's eye perspective is unforgettable.
Bangweulu – 'the place where the earth meets the sky' – is the deep and secret heart of Africa. It is also steeped in the history of David Livingstone, who died here in 1873 after seven years searching for the source of the Nile. Today Bangweulu's wildlife is the magnet that lures visitors to these remote wetlands in northwest Zambia.
Herds of black lechwe, an antelope you won’t see anywhere else in Africa, graze in huge numbers among the termite mounds of the Chimbwi floodplains, together with reedbuck, oribi and tsessebe. Flocks of cranes, storks, pratincoles and pelicans fill the skies in numbers beyond counting.
But to spot Bangweulu's most iconic denizens you must press on into the great fen itself – 2,500 square miles of deltas, papyrus and clear water channels. Only then will you spot the rare, swamp-dwelling sitatunga antelope, and the ghostly grey shoebill stork that sits at the top of every bird-watcher's wish list.